Metering panel



H. J. L. FRANK METERING PANEL Oct. 29, 1929.

Filed 001;. 23. 1922 2 sheets sheet Oct. 29, 1929. H. J. FRANK METERINGPANEL Filed Oct. 23. 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Shun Hot Patented Oct. 29,1929 UNIT-E TATS HARRISON J. FRANK, or DETROIT, MICHIGAN,

AS$IGNOR TO MUTUAL ELECTRIC AND MACHINE COMPANY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ACORPORATION OF WEST VIR- GINIA METERING PANEL Application filed October23, 1922. Serial No. 586,292.

This invention relates to electric systems for large ofiice buildingsand other structures where a number of tenants are individually suppliedwith .electric current, and its object is to provide an installation ofthis character which may be entirely locked to the generalpublic-andwhich shall be so enclosed that certain portions such as thecompartment containi g the circuit switch es and fuses shall beaccessible to'all persons having to do with the electric service of thebuilding while other portions such as the'meter connections shall beaccessible only to persons delegated thereto by the electric servicecorporation.

Another object of this invention is to provide simple means whereby thecircuit switches-pf 'diflerent rooms or suites of a buildi'ng' may'beconnected to a single meter.

Anotherobject of this invention is to provide means so that the wires toand from the meters canbe-kept separate from the circuit wires.

Another object of this invention is to produce a complete metal-encasedsystem of wiring between the wires of the service company and the meterswhich indicate the consumption of current, every part of the systembeing enclosed and sealed to prevent tamper- 1n lhis invention consists'in the details of construction illustrated in the accompanying drawingsand particularly pointed out in the claims. 1

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a meteringpanel embodying the present invention. Fig. 2 is a section on the line2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is afront elevation of a switch and the connecions thereto. Fig. 5 is atransverse section showing a sealing device. Fig. 6 is a section of acorner of a case on a larger scale. Fig. 7 is a perspective of aconnector. Fig. 8 is a perspective of a tagging device. Fig. 9 is afront elevation of a metering panel on a smaller scale with parts of thedoors broken away.

Similar reference characters refer to like parts throughout the severalviews.

Metering panels are installed in ofiice buildings, apartment houses andother structures where a number of persons pay individually for thecurrent consumed and where such persons are liable to enlarge or reducethe quarters occupied. Provision must' therefore be made to group thecircuit wires of any possibie group of rooms on one meter and thesewires must be safeguarded so that unauthorized tampering with them willbe prevented. As apartments or suites of rooms may be subdivided in thefuture, provisions must be made forthe installation of additional metersas they shall be needed. Provision must also be made to permitreplacement of burnt fuses by a person who is not authorized to changethe wires to the meters so that doors must be provided giving access tothe various portions of the metering panels.

The metering panel shown in the drawings is enclosed in a case which hasaback 1, sides 2 and 3, top end and lower end 5, preferably of metal.Mounted in this case is a base 6 of non-conducting material to whichareattached the side walls 7 and 8, the top wall 9, the bottom wall 10,the long transverse wall 11 which cuts off the main switch from theremainder of the circuits, the upright partition walls 12 and 13 whichseparate the compartments containing the private or circuit fuses andswitches from the central compartment, and the short walls 14 whichconstitut-e the lower walls of the private fuse compartments. Extendingfrom the bottom 1 and parallel to the sides 2 and 3 are partition walls15 and 16 which may also be of metal, and which are between the spacesor troughs for the house wires from the troughs for the meter wires. Thewalls 7 and 8 and any of the other walls may be reinforced by the anglebars 21 shown in Fig. 2.

A pipe 17 extends through the bottom end 5 and the main wires 18, 19 and20 extend through the pipe 17 and openings in the wall 10 to the mainfuses 22, 23 and 24. The main switch 25 connects these fuses to the bars26, 27 and 28. The bar 27 is the feed Wire terminal and extends to nearthe wall 9 beneath a plate 30 and smaller conductors 31 extend from thismain terminal to terminals of the minal bars 26 and 28. In order toprevent tampering with the meter connections outside of the meteringpanel, the elbows 49 are provided, being attached to the sides 2 and 3and are formedto receive the lower ends of the meters. The usual shuntwires 90 are provided for meters requiring the same and these connect tothe main-feed circuit eonnector bar 27 at a point where these are placedunder j'seal.

"Each portion of this panel can be sealed. As indicated'in Fig. 9, a'main front plate 51 is attached to'the meter panel after all the circuitwires .35 have been installed and attached"to{ their respective -fuseterminals. Therefisrio occasion for changes after the initialinstallation, Side doors 52 give aceess ,to the meter. troughs and thesedoors may be secured by the seals 53.- The main upper dopr 154vgivesiaecess to. the circuit switches and circuit fusesso that thesecan be replaced when blownout. Thisdoor is preferablyhinged-to thecabinet so that one man. can [gain access to theswitches and fuses Wherethe doormustbe removed entirely, several men .are often necessary tolift the heavy fronts into place. The meter'wires are covered by a door55 and a plate 56, both of which are sealed. Removable bridges 57 extendbetween the walls 7 and 15 and between the walls 8 and 16 above thecircuit wires and through them the meter wires extend across the circuitwires. These bridges have bottoms 58, sides 59 and end flanges 60 and 61to position them in the partition walls.

A second outer door 68 covers the main switch 25 and the fuses 22, 23and 24 together with the meter-terminal bars 26 and 28 and the meterprotective fuses 81, or any desired substitutes therefor.

It is thus apparent that the janitor or engineer of a buildingmay be inposition to open the door 54 to renew the circuit fuses and open orclose the circuit switches. The front door frame 51 prevents access tothe circuit wires and the inner door 55, cross plate 56 and side doors52 prevent access to the meter wires by all who are not authorized tobreak the seals. It is presumed that the door 63, which is capable ofbeing both locked and sealed, will usually be locked and maintainedlocked by the lighting company. And

it is also'presumed that the service fuses and the meter fusescontained-in this section are fuses much heavier than the circuit fusescontained in the upper section. Therefore, these service fuses and meterfuses should not blow except under rare conditions and in this event thelighting company would send its service man to replace these fuses.Should the lighting company not deem this necessary, they could thenmake the fuses available to the engineer or janitor byopening the door.

In Figs. 5 and G-I-have shown "several forms of seals. In Fig. 5 the twopartitions 11 and 14 are shown provided with angle bars 65 at theirupper edges which carry the screws 66'which securethe plate 56 inposition. The-seal wires 67extendthrough holes in these screws and inthe screws 68 and thus prevent removal of this plate.

.In Fig. 6,.the side wall 3 has its upper edge 70 turned inward to'receive the door..52 and the wire 71 extends through holes inthis doorand wall. The screw 72 extends through both door and wall and the; nut73 thereon is secured by the wire 74 and'seal'75.

In Figs. 1 and .2 the swi hes .31 are shown to have terminals 77'eirtending up along the walls 12 and 13 to the bolts8 which have nuts 79on their inner-ends. ;When two or more of these switchesare to beconnected to a meter, the connector. bars- 80, are employed, these bars.having notches -,8 1 toreceive these bolts It.- is;.evidentgthat..thesebars maybe made; o f any desired length or= any number of .themv mayoverlapped to unite the switches-fora meteri These bars and theterminals to which theyare connected are preferably spaced a distance,from the plate 30 so-as' to be; aceess ible when' th'is compartment isfilled withwires- I have indicated the wires 45 and 48 and the wires .37to 40 by lines-of different character. In practice, the wires for eachmeter will have a covering of a distinctive color -or combination ofcolors so that they canrbe' followed without difficulty. This may alsobe theease with the circuit wires 35. As a further aid toidentification, .asmall .plate 83 (Figs. 4 and 8) may be attached... toeach switch and this plate may be painted or have a; short piece of-themeter wire attached'lto it so that the meters-can be checked'ortested bya test meterconn'ectedto the ,proper termina1s,.and the various circuitsthat are grouped on a certain meter can :be identified without openingthe sealed compartments.

It may be found desirable to have means for identifying the metercircuits in plain view on themeters and therefore a receptacle or plate85.is provided on the'front of each meter to receive-the identifyingmarks similar to the marks on the plate 83 or short pieces of the metercircuit wires may be mounted in the receptacle and covered with atransparent plate if desired. This system or code of wires andidentifying devices enables the line-men to quickly select the wirespertaining to each meter and to each tenants circuit and thus not onlysaves much time but also reduces the chances for mistakes. Strandedcables having each strand insulated and of a particular color orotherwise identified may often be used to advantage. The identificationtags 85 may be placed in the brackets 49 or elsewhere adjacent themeters should marking the meters themselves be found inconvenient.

The details of construction and the proportions of the parts of thismetering panel may all be changed by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention as set forth in the followingclaims.

I claim 1. In a metering panel cabinet, a central compartment, bus barsand circuit controlling appliances within the central compartment,partitions, within the cabinet, segregating two parallel wiring guttersbetween each cabinet side wall and the central compartment, circuitwires within each inner gutter and meter wires within each outer gutter,and a trough communicating between each outer gutter and the centralcompartment, the meter wires in the outer gutters leading to theappliances in the central compartment through the troughs.

2. In a metering panel cabinet, a central compartment, bus bars andcircuit controlling appliances within the central compartment,partitions within the cabinet, segregating two parallel wiring guttersbetween each cabinet side wall and the central compartment, circuitwires within each inner gutter and meter wires within each outer gutter,and a trough communicating between each outer gutter and the centralcompartment, the meter wires in the outer gutters leading to theappliances in the central compartment through the troughs, and a coverhinged over said compartments and troughs, said cover being divided intosections with one of said sections covering the central compartment andother sections covering said gutters and troughs.

3. In a metering panel cabinet, a central compartment, bus bars andcircuit controlling appliances within the central compartment,partitions, within the cabinet, segregating two parallel wiring guttersbetween each cabinet side wall and the central compartment, circuitwires Within each inner gutter and meter wires within each outer gutter,troughs communicating between the outer gutters and the centralcompartment, the meter wires in the outer gutters leading to theappliances in the central compartment through the troughs, said centralcompartment being further divided into two portions in one of which arelocated the main leads, main fuses and main switch while the otherincludes the controlling appliances for the meter circuits.

4. In a metering panel cabinet, a central compartment, bus bars andcircuit controlling appliances within the central compartment,partitions within the cabinet, segregating two parallel wiring guttersbetween each cabinet side wall and the central compartment, circuitwires within each inner gutter and meter wires within each outer gutter,and a trough communicating between each outer gutter and the centralcompartment, the meter wires in the outer gutters leading to theappliances in the central compartment through the troughs, said centralcompartment being further divided into a plurality of portions, and aseparate sealing means for each portion.

HARRISON J. L. FRANK.

